Aiff file will not play on my cd player.

Question

Level 1

9 points

Aiff file will not play on my cd player.

I used audacity to edit a file and saved it as an aiff file, imported into iTunes and then burned it to a cd. But this cd [an aiff file] will not play on my cd player. I have burned other cds that come up with an aiff-c file and these have no problem with my cd player. How can I convert and aiff file to an aiff-c file. I have just wasted a bunch of cds to figure this out. Too expensive to go one with this experimentation.

wav from audacity to desktop to iTunes where I tried converting to aiff file. Then burned from iTunes to cd. Came out as wav file on cd, which won't play on cd player.

aiff from audacity to desktop to iTunes -- burn from i Tunes--- stays as aiff. Won't play on cd player.

aiff from audacity to desktop --- in finder to burn folder, burn cd . Won't play on cd player.😟

Can't remember other attempts.

HELP!!

iMAC, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 9:22 AM

Answer 1

designer_02 Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 2, 2012 8:09 AM in response to designer_02

Not sure what happened yesterday. This morning much better. I edited a file in Audacity, exported it as an aiff file. Dragged it into iTunes. Burned it from iTunes at 4x [just now saw how I could use a lower speed] and it played nicely in my cd player. Thank you all for your patient help. I am so happy that now I get how I can use Audacity, etc.

Answer 2

Chris CA

Level 10

82,940 points

Oct 1, 2012 1:15 PM in response to designer_02

You don't need to convert it to AIFF-C (which is simply AIFF compressed) .
If it plays in iTunes, it will be correctly converted to audio CD format (linear 16 bit uncompressed PCM).

Try a slower speed (4x).

Answer 3

Oct 2, 2012 7:21 AM in response to designer_02

On a CD player it isn't AIFF (unless you have a very, very special CD player), it is audio CD format (as Chris CA outlines). You can start with pretty much any format sound file iTunes can read but on the audio format CD it will end up as plain old linear 16 bit uncompressed PCM which has been the audio CD standard for 30 years.

If your CDs will not play on other players then there could be a problem with your CD burn. Try the usual things such as slower burn speed and better quality CD media. It is possible your burner is out of alignment and is burning CDs only your player can then read.

Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,940 points

Oct 1, 2012 9:31 AM in response to designer_02

Did you burn it as an audio CD or a data CD?

It should be an Audio CD. iTunes will burn it in the correct format.

Answer 5

designer_02 Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 1, 2012 9:51 AM in response to Chris CA

Always burned it as an audio cd.

Answer 6

designer_02 Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 1, 2012 9:59 AM in response to designer_02

All cds I made WILL play on my MAC, but I trying to make copies to send to friends that will play on their cd players.

Answer 7

Chris CA

Level 10

82,940 points

Oct 1, 2012 10:07 AM in response to designer_02

Try a slower burn speed.

You can change it in the pop-up window.

Answer 8

designer_02 Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 1, 2012 12:51 PM in response to Chris CA

Am already doing at 8x the slowest speed.

Answer 9

designer_02 Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 1, 2012 12:57 PM in response to designer_02

My problem is getting/making an aiff-c file from an edited file in audacity. I can get an aiff file from audacity, but can go no further anywhere to convert it to an aiff-c file.

Answer 10

designer_02 Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 2, 2012 7:05 AM in response to Chris CA

Yes, aiff will play on iTunes, but it will not play on a cd player. Only aiff-c files will. Found this out with trial and error. The slowest speed I can burn using iTunes is 8x which I am using.